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Alvin Holsey - The US embassy and US navy have donated US$100,000 worth of disaster-response equipment to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) and some regional corporations.
The handover ceremony, described as historic by ODPM CEO retired Maj Gen Rodney Smart, took place on December 10 at the ODPM’s national emergency operations centre in Mausica.
The donation included a ten-ton truck, generators, shovels, hoses, tents, TVs, wheelbarrows, ropes and chainsaws, among other items.
The donation will benefit the ODPM, Siparia Regional Corporation and the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA).
Smart thanked the US officials for channelling these "high-in-demand items" to Trinidad and Tobago amid the two countries’ collaborative efforts towards disaster preparedness and response.
Recently appointed US Navy Southern Command leader Adm Alvin Holsey said he was pleased the handover was his first official public engagement in his new post.
Holsey noted the issues facing TT and pointed out the importance of the donation.
“Regional geography leaves TT, and this entire region, vulnerable to extreme weather events, natural and man-made disasters. Before, during, and after catastrophe, US Southern Command stands shoulder to shoulder with our partners to assist."
He said the equipment would result in increased resilience and institutional capacity, and improved information-technology infrastructure and systems.
He pledged continued support, saying the donation would benefit thousands of people and enable the various response agencies to deal with disasters such as oil spills and floods, while strengthening national disaster-management capabilities.
“What affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We're in this together. The US and Southern Command will always be by your side, and together, we will continue to overcome our shared challenges.”
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds, newly returned from a regional climate change conference, said the donation was appreciated now more than ever.
Fitzgerald Hinds -
“When I first heard of this concept of climate change, it was something impending, something to come. As we speak it is no longer that, it is now with us, real and true, and impacting on societies, economies and lives of people everywhere in the globe.”
“The items received today are in direct response to the possibilities that yield from those kinds of events.”
Hinds said he had already witnessed the fallout caused by climate change.
“I've seen…the cries, the pain, the loss, the expectations of the real people who are affected by this.
“These events, climate-change-inspired as they are, sometimes lead to social upheaval, matters of national security in that pure sense. So I especially welcome the handover of these items to the ODPM and the other beneficiaries as part of our preparedness and response to deal with these real issues when they come.”
Rodney Smart -
Speaking with the media after the handover ceremony, Hinds also commented on the Caribbean Security Nations Conference (Cansec) 2024, which begins at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port of Spain, on December 11.
He explained the conference would be an exchange of ideas focused on regional safety and security.
“It provides for policy directions largely with the military…So it creates a forum and an opportunity for thoughts and ideas and sharing and exchanges and training that flows from it. So we are more than happy to host it in TT again.”
Hinds said although the Caribbean is known as a “zone of peace,” discussions surrounding the proliferation of illegal guns and human trafficking would undoubtedly be discussed.
“We continue to have a challenge with security issues around the world in this hemisphere. We in the region have our own issues with illegal weapons and all of that. That's a work in progress and the work continues."
He added policies on border security and border management would also be discussed.
Hinds said Cansec would provide the opportunity for developing training processes and exercises for members of the defence force in the special areas required when dealing with matters of national, regional and international security.
“You have people with ill will traversing the world to come into your space and create trouble for you. We have issues of migration, some of it legal, a lot of it illegal. We have issues with human trafficking inside of there too. We also have issues with gun trafficking. We don't manufacture them here, so they must come from somewhere.
"All of these are ongoing issues for TT, which we continue to grapple with.”
English (US) ·